Saturday, December 29, 2007

Los Angeles, CA. The Full Disclosure Network® is re-releasing a two-part program exposing the use of Slate Card Campaign Mailers and Phony Sample Ballots in Calfifornia election campaigns to be featured on cable television channels with a preview on the Internet as follows:

According to Craig Holman, of the Center for Governmental Studies and retired California Senator Dick Mountjoy (R.-Monrovia) “for profit” slate card campaign mailers are deceiving voters with phony endorsements that have been bought and paid for by the very people purportedly endorsed.

PART 1:Senator Mountjoy and Craig Holman take on UCLA Professor of Law Daniel Lowenstein who defended the mailers and filed a lawsuit to overturn Prop 208 (1996) including the disclosure requirements. Weighing in against the mailers Senator Dick Mountjoy cited how the questionable slate card mailers damaged his 1998 campaign. The debate is moderated by Leslie Dutton and was originally videotaped in 1998 and the same campaign tactics are used today.

PART 2: Craig Holman exposes how phony sample ballots sent out by California Congresswoman Maxine Waters which were prepared by a “for profit” slate card mailing operator, in an attempt to deceive voters. UCLA Law Professor Dan Lowenstein countered, saying that oppressive campaign laws were trying to discredit the mailings. He scoffed that if imitating an Official Sample Ballot is a problem, then it should be made illegal.

“If you take away the deceptiveness of a slate card, you take away the effectiveness of a slate card” said Senator Dick Mountjoy (ret). Mountjoy cited the deceptive mailers targeting senior citizens in his Southern California district. He said the slate cards mailings used his image and name to falsely imply that he had endorsed the candidates. In fact the candidates had paid for the false endorsements. Click here for transcript of quote.

Full Disclosure Network® has been billed as "the news behind the news" for the past fifteen years and is produced by Leslie Dutton & T. J. Johnston. In 2002 the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded a local public affairs Emmy for the Full Disclosure® Series “L.A.’s War Against Terrorism” featuring LAPD Chief Parks, Lt. Ken Hillman, Sheriff Baca and Councilman Mark-Ridley Thomas.